I don’t know what time period you knew this guy, but back in the 90s when the first retrovirals came out it was not a friendly place for gay people, especially gay men.
I actively covered for at least two in workplace situations where bosses were hinting/asking around about questionable sexual orientation, and made up brief scenarios where I’d seen them out with some beautiful woman just to throw these assholes off the track, if only because I knew how it would be for them at work if anyone found out: the prelude hell of whispers and glances, then open harassment, then complete loss of employment.
One of them, who ended up being a good friend, was also HIV+ and stared this exact scenario in the face on multiple occasions, but got his retrovirals through one of the first studies so at least that specific healthcare access wasn’t threatened.
And remember the statement at the top of this thread:
The fact that your employment in the US determines what medical care you can get is absolutely bonkers.
AIDS was not rare at all. It is still not rare in many parts of the world. But you could not get a better group of people to marginalize, deny, and treat criminally than gay men in the 80s and 90s – especially ones who had to keep their sexuality completely hidden from employers just to have jobs and health insurance in the first place.
I don’t know what time period you knew this guy, but back in the 90s when the first retrovirals came out it was not a friendly place for gay people, especially gay men.
I actively covered for at least two in workplace situations where bosses were hinting/asking around about questionable sexual orientation, and made up brief scenarios where I’d seen them out with some beautiful woman just to throw these assholes off the track, if only because I knew how it would be for them at work if anyone found out: the prelude hell of whispers and glances, then open harassment, then complete loss of employment.
One of them, who ended up being a good friend, was also HIV+ and stared this exact scenario in the face on multiple occasions, but got his retrovirals through one of the first studies so at least that specific healthcare access wasn’t threatened.
And remember the statement at the top of this thread:
AIDS was not rare at all. It is still not rare in many parts of the world. But you could not get a better group of people to marginalize, deny, and treat criminally than gay men in the 80s and 90s – especially ones who had to keep their sexuality completely hidden from employers just to have jobs and health insurance in the first place.